Genealogy Books - Deep Ancestry: Inside The Genographic Project

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Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating:

Summary: Disappointing;read JOURNEY OF MAN instead
Comment: The online site for the Genographic Project was much more interesting. Read Dr. Welles first book,
JOURNEY OF MAN, to get better information. This book was too confusing.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Awsome book.
Comment: This book is amazing. As a result of reading this book, I had my genographic study done by the
National Geographic/IBM project. Now, other members of my family are having other sides of the
family do the same.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Spencer Wells again does a genetic book better than Bryan Sykes
Comment: Wells's earlier Journey of Man book was far more informative and less trivial (and less of an
egotrip) than Sykes's Seven Daughters of Eve. Well this new book of Wells with some newer info than
JOM (like there being neolithic syrian blood in certain Danish people) beats out the Saxons, Vikings
and Celts book by Bryan Sykes (which was more limited in scope and contained lies like that Sykes
was the first to extract dna from thousands of year dead humans in 1989 when actually Svante Paabo
did that in 1985). Good job Spencer!

Customer Rating:

Summary: Happiness is knowing your haplotype
Comment: The human diaspora from Africa that populated the world has been the subject of several recent
studies. At first, these books were bulwarks against the tide of "Multi-regionalism" - the idea
that an early version of our ancestral species evolved into Homo sapiens at different times and
places. Genetic research, including that of the author, has shown that we're all descended from a
small African population. Placing our origins on one continent simplifies the task of analysis of
tracking our movements. In this book, Wells explains how the examination works and what it reveals
of our ancestry.

The tool is "markers" on the genome. For females it was the DNA in
mitochondria, the cell's "powerhouse". For males, it is changes on the Y chromosome, that molecular
structure triggering a shift from the default embryo condition. The author demonstrates how these
indicators are detected and how they allow us to track our ancestry back in time. The markers
designate genetic "borders" between groups of people who share a common ancestor in the deep past.
The groups are called "haplotypes" - for which Wells, at least in the case of Europe, uses the term
"clan". There are seven of these clans - designated by letter labels such as "R", "J" or "N" -
descended from male originators. The approach is reminiscent of Bryan Sykes "Seven Daughters of
Eve" [2001], except Wells follows the male lineage where Sykes used mitochondrial DNA to source
female origins. Both authors focus on the European records as being more complete and readily
available. Wells also finds but five female lines as opposed to Sykes' seven.

Wells
discusses how genetic "clocks" can postulate a rate of mutation over a long span of time to roughly
determine the age of the haplogroup. Much of this assessment is sustained by archaeological record.
The procedures pinpoint his own grandmother's ancestry, which is ostensibly Danish, to origins in
the Middle East, some ten thousand years ago at the beginning of the adoption of agriculture. The
shift to the Middle East leads Wells to examine people living today with roots in far corners of the
world. One notable example is "Phil", whose Native American background becomes the start of a study
of Siberian people. There have been many disputes about the origins of the Western Hemisphere's
human settlers. Wells travelled to the Asian North to recover genetic data. The information
clearly defines the link between Indian populations here and their ancestry in Eastern Asia. />
Wells puts some effort into explaining how DNA works, what counts as a "mutation" and how
these changes can be tracked down the generations. With enough samples from living populations in
historically stable circumstances, he can provide maps of the distribution of the haplogroups and
frequency of the haplotype in a given area. Ireland, for example, is populated almost exclusively
by a single haplotype. He explains that The Genographic Project he heads is keen to collect more
data, both to refine the European and Native American data, but to enlarge the information from
other parts of the world. Clearly, this is a book "in progress", but stands firmly as a good basis
for understanding the foundations of such research and its enlargement of knowledge of humanity.
Although he states this book is "less technical" than his "The Journey of Man", there is sufficient
information on how the data collection and analysis is undertaken to make the book readable and
interesting to everybody. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Customer Rating:

Summary: We've got history in our genes
Comment: What a marvellous little book! I was taken by surprise so many times during my reading, whenever I
thought I knew what the author is about at the beginning of many of his stories. In a way, this is
like a crime fiction book written by a clever writer that catches you off guard and it reveals the
killer only at the last page. The writing style is deceivingly simple; Spencer gets over the
scientific details of genetics in a few paragraphs where he tells you in plain English everything
you need to know to understand this book. The book then flows smoothly and he managed to make it so
easy for you to follow the main ideas and try to decipher what is probably the greatest puzzle of
all: the origins of human race. You will have a few surprises.

You might have seen the
National Geographic documentary "The Journey of Man". Its author is none other than same Spence
Wells. He is only 37 years old, and very, very bright. I have to emphasize again the writing style:
very simple, yet it explains clearly complex concepts. He talks science, yet he is humorous and
light. He uses sometimes numbers and probabilities, but the book is in general built around stories
of five people chosen to represent the main haplogroups (families or a clans of people that share
the same genetic properties transmitted over many generations) in the history of mankind. Spencer
Wells is currently a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and the director of Genographic
Project. It is a great and fascinating role he is playing. The goal of this project is to collect
about 100,000 genetic samples from people around the world that live in still pristine conditions:
that is they live in the same area their families lived for a long time. This information is stored
in a database and by applying sophisticated algorithms; we should be able to determine how we have
evolved in time, how we migrated and how we came to become the people of today. I was a little bit
sceptical about this entire concept, but the book convinced me. You will have to read it to
understand what really means. It is a powerful idea.

The book is based on five stories
told people with very different backgrounds. Each story will astound you. You will also have a
better understanding of what genetic archaeology is. If you are familiar with DNA, it will make even
more sense to you. The DNA is seen more and more like a cryptic library that holds many secrets
about our evolution. Segments of code will reveal relationships never thought possible. This book
does not go that much in detail, but it does tell you the story in a nicely narrated style that
takes you step by step through the various haplogroups patterns, like a detective, and come up with
unexpected conclusions.

In the end you will see why scientists believe that the Adam
and Eve, the original parents of all the people that populated this planet today, lived around
60,000 years ago in Africa. If you take the time to think about it, you realise how amazing this is.
In 2,000 generations we evolved from an ape like humanoid to the generation of the Internet. The
book will take you through the Ice Age, the disappearance of Neanderthal, the conquest of Asia, the
mystery of Australian Aborigines, invasion of Americas and many other adventures. Back to Africa,
you will get to know how genetically diverse this continent is. Did you know that two of the oldest
haplogroups (tribes) still live in Africa today and probably they speak the oldest language, perhaps
the first languages? These people speak the so-called click languages that are more sophisticated in
the variety of sounds than our modern languages.

The book has also information about
how to purchase a Genographic Project Public Participation Kit. For $99.95 you can get that kit,
collect your DNA sample and send it to the project office. The results are kept confidentially in
the project database and you will have secure access to your DNA profile. You can find more details
at www.nationalgeographic.com/genographic.

I recommend this book to anyone curious
about genetics, genealogy, history, evolution and genetic archaeology.

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